SQL Server FineBuild 2012

I am trying to install SQL Server FineBuild onto a server that has recently been set up to use "Nimble" storage. All except C: are Nimble at the current time. So, when I did my last install I received the following error message:

______Exception summary:
The following is an exception stack listing the exceptions in outermost to innermost order
Inner exceptions are being indented

Message:
The folder path 'F:\SQLFiles\MSAS.MSSQLSERVER.Data' is located on a shared disk.
HResult : 0x84b40000
FacilityCode : 1204 (4b4)
ErrorCode : 0 (0000)
Data:
SQL.Setup.FailureCategory = InputSettingValidationFailure
DisableWatson = true
Stack:
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.InputSettingService.LogAllValidationErrorsAndThrowFirstOne(ValidationState vs)
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.SetupExtension.ValidateFeatureSettingsAction.ExecuteAction(String actionId)
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.Action.Execute(String actionId, TextWriter errorStream)
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.ExecuteActionHelper(TextWriter statusStream, ISequencedAction actionToRun, ServiceContainer context)
Inner exception type: System.ApplicationException
Message:
The folder path 'F:\SQLFiles\MSAS.MSSQLSERVER.Data' is located on a shared disk.______
I know from previous installs that shared volumes can't be used to place files on when using SQL Server FineBuild. However, we just moved from having most drives local to the server, to having all except the C: drive be shared and administered by "Nimble' which is a very big raid drive with SSDs for cache. As this is the way we have set up most and almost all of our other SQL Servers, I don't see why it is a failure to use shared drives when installing using SQL Server FineBuild.

All the error messages you have given are from the Microsoft SQL Server install program, so it is likely that FineBuild is not part of the root cause of the problem.

Can you check the following. If these do not identify the root cause then I think you should raise a case with Nimble, and possibly also with Microsoft.

1) Are you doing a Cluster install? If so are the disks you are allocating to Analysis Services used by any other clustered service within the Windows cluster. Each clustered service (SQL DB, SSAS, MSDTC, etc) must have its own dedicated disks.

2) How are the disks being presented to Windows? Is it possible to present them as dedicated disks instead of shared disks. Note that I cannot advise on how you might do this, you will have to speak to Nimble support.

3) If you have to present the disks as shared and you are not currently installing a cluster, then there are two main options:

a) If you do not need SSAS then add a parameter /SetupSQLAS:NO this will prevent SSAS from being installed. The other components may install correctly.
b) If you need SSAS then set up a single node cluster. You will need to configure Windows as a single node cluster, then you can use FineBuild to install SQL Server on that node.

1) Are you doing a Cluster install? If so are the disks you are allocating to Analysis Services used by any other clustered service within the Windows cluster. Each clustered service (SQL DB, SSAS, MSDTC, etc) must have its own dedicated disks.
When I received this error, I wasn't. However, after I set up a cluster on the machine, the error hasn't been seen.

2) How are the disks being presented to Windows? Is it possible to present them as dedicated disks instead of shared disks. Note that I cannot advise on how you might do this, you will have to speak to Nimble support.
They are set up as local drives.